I'm soldering up my first FPGA design and I'm getting discouraged.
I'm using an Altera Cycline with an EPCS1 serial configuration device. I've
soldered up the passives and the power supply but the only active part I've
put on the board is the configuration PROM.
I've connected my ByteBlaster to my board, and it doesn't see the PROM
device. I get the error "Unable to scan device chain. Can't scan JTAG
chain." Quartus will, however, see the Cyclone device on another (also
not-working) board of mine.
I've checked and double-checked the connections per Figure 4-2 of the Serial
Configuration Devices datasheet, and the continuity tester says it all
checks out. I've tried the PROM soldered in both ways, but no success.
Are there any magical troubleshooting steps out there I don't know of? It's
quite discouraging that I've spent this money to have custom boards made,
paid for parts, etc. and find that I can't program the PROM.
On Nov 21, 10:12 pm, "Nevo" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm soldering up my first FPGA design and I'm getting discouraged.
>
> I'm using an Altera Cycline with an EPCS1 serial configuration device. I've
> soldered up the passives and the power supply but the only active part I've
> put on the board is the configuration PROM.
>
> I've connected my ByteBlaster to my board, and it doesn't see the PROM
> device. I get the error "Unable to scan device chain. Can't scan JTAG
> chain." Quartus will, however, see the Cyclone device on another (also
> not-working) board of mine.
>
> I've checked and double-checked the connections per Figure 4-2 of the Serial
> Configuration Devices datasheet, and the continuity tester says it all
> checks out. I've tried the PROM soldered in both ways, but no success.
That might be the clue. I don't know the pinout of the PROM device,
but they often use power and ground on diagonal pins. If you put it
in backwards the first time, it is ruined and turning it around will
not help. Figure out which way is right and put a new one on the
board.
> Are there any magical troubleshooting steps out there I don't know of? It's
> quite discouraging that I've spent this money to have custom boards made,
> paid for parts, etc. and find that I can't program the PROM.
Yes, there are lots of magical steps. But we can't share them or we
are banned from the coven.
Nevo wrote:
> I'm soldering up my first FPGA design and I'm getting discouraged.
>
> I'm using an Altera Cyclone with an EPCS1 serial configuration device. I've
> soldered up the passives and the power supply but the only active part I've
> put on the board is the configuration PROM.
>
> I've connected my ByteBlaster to my board, and it doesn't see the PROM
> device. I get the error "Unable to scan device chain. Can't scan JTAG
> chain." Quartus will, however, see the Cyclone device on another (also
> not-working) board of mine.
>
> I've checked and double-checked the connections per Figure 4-2 of the Serial
> Configuration Devices datasheet, and the continuity tester says it all
> checks out. I've tried the PROM soldered in both ways, but no success.
>
> Are there any magical troubleshooting steps out there I don't know of? It's
> quite discouraging that I've spent this money to have custom boards made,
> paid for parts, etc. and find that I can't program the PROM.
>
> Thanks in advance for any tips.
>
> -Matt
A JTAG chain is usually a "chain" with outputs from one chip feeding
inputs of the other. Is your ByteBlaster indeed connected directly to
the TDI and TDO pins? If you have the FPGA as part of that chain yet
not installed, there's a link missing.
Are you aware the board has to be fully powered up to have the JTAG
work? The ByteBlaster alone will not make the device (your PROM) come
up. It may sound like a silly question but all I know is this is your
first FPGA design.
Aha! I went to bed last night pretty discouraged, but found a ray of hope
this morning.
It seems there's a power supply issue on my board. I don't think I'm going
to be able to solve the programming issue until I solve the power supply
issue.
"John_H" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:fL81j.8078$B21.5046@trndny07...
> Nevo wrote:
>> I'm soldering up my first FPGA design and I'm getting discouraged.
>>
>> I'm using an Altera Cyclone with an EPCS1 serial configuration device.
>> I've soldered up the passives and the power supply but the only active
>> part I've put on the board is the configuration PROM.
>>
>> I've connected my ByteBlaster to my board, and it doesn't see the PROM
>> device. I get the error "Unable to scan device chain. Can't scan JTAG
>> chain." Quartus will, however, see the Cyclone device on another (also
>> not-working) board of mine.
>>
>> I've checked and double-checked the connections per Figure 4-2 of the
>> Serial Configuration Devices datasheet, and the continuity tester says it
>> all checks out. I've tried the PROM soldered in both ways, but no
>> success.
>>
>> Are there any magical troubleshooting steps out there I don't know of?
>> It's quite discouraging that I've spent this money to have custom boards
>> made, paid for parts, etc. and find that I can't program the PROM.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any tips.
>>
>> -Matt
>
> A JTAG chain is usually a "chain" with outputs from one chip feeding
> inputs of the other. Is your ByteBlaster indeed connected directly to the
> TDI and TDO pins? If you have the FPGA as part of that chain yet not
> installed, there's a link missing.
>
> Are you aware the board has to be fully powered up to have the JTAG work?
> The ByteBlaster alone will not make the device (your PROM) come up. It
> may sound like a silly question but all I know is this is your first FPGA
> design.
>
> - John_H
There is no chain, just the PROM device. Yes, I am powering the board during
the scan. (Thank you, though, for pointing that out!)
The EPCS should be programmed using the 'Active Serial Programming'
mode, not JTAG.
André
Nevo wrote:
> I'm soldering up my first FPGA design and I'm getting discouraged.
>
> I'm using an Altera Cycline with an EPCS1 serial configuration device. I've
> soldered up the passives and the power supply but the only active part I've
> put on the board is the configuration PROM.
>
> I've connected my ByteBlaster to my board, and it doesn't see the PROM
> device. I get the error "Unable to scan device chain. Can't scan JTAG
> chain." Quartus will, however, see the Cyclone device on another (also
> not-working) board of mine.
>
> I've checked and double-checked the connections per Figure 4-2 of the Serial
> Configuration Devices datasheet, and the continuity tester says it all
> checks out. I've tried the PROM soldered in both ways, but no success.
>
> Are there any magical troubleshooting steps out there I don't know of? It's
> quite discouraging that I've spent this money to have custom boards made,
> paid for parts, etc. and find that I can't program the PROM.
>
> Thanks in advance for any tips.
>
> -Matt
>
>
From within Quartus, I'm going to the Tools menu, selecting Programmer, then
clicking on Auto Detect.
Is that not appropriate for the EPCS device? If not, then how do I program
the device from within Quartus?
-Mat
"Andre" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] .home.nl...
> Matt
>
> The EPCS should be programmed using the 'Active Serial Programming' mode,
> not JTAG.
>
> André
>
> Nevo wrote:
>> I'm soldering up my first FPGA design and I'm getting discouraged.
>>
>> I'm using an Altera Cycline with an EPCS1 serial configuration device.
>> I've soldered up the passives and the power supply but the only active
>> part I've put on the board is the configuration PROM.
>>
>> I've connected my ByteBlaster to my board, and it doesn't see the PROM
>> device. I get the error "Unable to scan device chain. Can't scan JTAG
>> chain." Quartus will, however, see the Cyclone device on another (also
>> not-working) board of mine.
>>
>> I've checked and double-checked the connections per Figure 4-2 of the
>> Serial Configuration Devices datasheet, and the continuity tester says it
>> all checks out. I've tried the PROM soldered in both ways, but no
>> success.
>>
>> Are there any magical troubleshooting steps out there I don't know of?
>> It's quite discouraging that I've spent this money to have custom boards
>> made, paid for parts, etc. and find that I can't program the PROM.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any tips.
>>
>> -Matt
Thank you for pointing that out. I wouldn't have figured that out on my own!
"Nevo" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:Brh2j.40740$Pt.1121@trnddc02...
> Andre,
>
> From within Quartus, I'm going to the Tools menu, selecting Programmer,
> then clicking on Auto Detect.
>
> Is that not appropriate for the EPCS device? If not, then how do I program
> the device from within Quartus?
>
> -Mat
>
> "Andre" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected] .home.nl...
>> Matt
>>
>> The EPCS should be programmed using the 'Active Serial Programming' mode,
>> not JTAG.
>>
>> André
>>
>> Nevo wrote:
>>> I'm soldering up my first FPGA design and I'm getting discouraged.
>>>
>>> I'm using an Altera Cycline with an EPCS1 serial configuration device.
>>> I've soldered up the passives and the power supply but the only active
>>> part I've put on the board is the configuration PROM.
>>>
>>> I've connected my ByteBlaster to my board, and it doesn't see the PROM
>>> device. I get the error "Unable to scan device chain. Can't scan JTAG
>>> chain." Quartus will, however, see the Cyclone device on another (also
>>> not-working) board of mine.
>>>
>>> I've checked and double-checked the connections per Figure 4-2 of the
>>> Serial Configuration Devices datasheet, and the continuity tester says
>>> it all checks out. I've tried the PROM soldered in both ways, but no
>>> success.
>>>
>>> Are there any magical troubleshooting steps out there I don't know of?
>>> It's quite discouraging that I've spent this money to have custom boards
>>> made, paid for parts, etc. and find that I can't program the PROM.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any tips.
>>>
>>> -Matt
>
>